NFL fines Michael Thomas $30,000 for cell phone celebration

Apparently $30,000 is the standard fine for celebrating with a cell phone, and there is no inflation.

The NFL fined Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas $30,000 for pulling a phone out from within the goal post padding and celebrating with it after scoring a touchdown on Sunday.

Thomas’s celebration was a tribute to former Saints wide receiver Joe Horn, who did the same thing to celebrate a touchdown 15 years ago. Horn also got fined $30,000.

With his base salary of $915,361, Thomas makes $53,845 a game. The fine is more than 50 percent of his weekly pay, which means he’ll be eligible to get a reduction on appeal. The NFL typically reduces a player’s fine if it’s more than 25 percent of his weekly pay for a first offense, and more than 50 percent of his weekly pay for a second offense. Thomas had already been fined for a celebration once this season.

Officially, the NFL said Thomas’s fine was “for using the phone as a prop and having a mobile device in the bench area.” Players and coaches are not allowed to have any communication devices other than NFL-approved tablets during games.